The Rhinoceros Times newspaper in Greensboro closes

Published: Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 09:32 AM.

“Newspapers got hit with the double whammy of the recession and increasing competition from the Internet,” Hammer wrote, “and we join a long list of newspapers that have closed their doors.”

Hammer also asked people to consider making a donation to cover the newspaper’s bills. “This would be a donation,” he said. “It is not tax deductible and you won’t receive anything of value for it. But right now we are deep in a financial hole and every bit helps.”

He said The Rhino Times would continue to be on the web “for as long as possible.”

Yost, who worked for the Rhino for more than 10 years, said he enjoyed the experience isn’t yet sure whether he’ll continue writing for the publication online.

“I just found out today I don’t have a job,” Yost said. “I know little about the future right now.”

GREENSBORO — After more than 21 years, Rhinoceros Times publisher John Hammer says Greensboro’s conservative weekly newspaper has published its last issue.

“We just ran out of money,” Hammer said in an interview Tuesday.

In a post to the free weekly’s website Tuesday morning, Hammer wrote that the paper is hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. He asked for reader donations to help pay off creditors.

The paper’s website will keep going for as long as it can, Hammer said — but having laid off all his paid staff Tuesday, he isn’t sure what it will look like.

“I’m still enormously interested in local politics,” Hammer said. “That hasn’t changed just because we’ve run out of money.”

Hammer said print advertising just dried up. An aborted attempt to expand into Charlotte also lost the company a lot of money, Hammer said. The paper pulled out of Charlotte in 2008.

Hammer said he met with a series of potential buyers and investors but couldn’t put together a deal to save the paper. It isn’t yet clear what will become of the paper’s offices on Market Street, he said.

Scott Yost, the paper’s Guilford County editor and columnist, said staffers will land on their feet but the community will feel the loss of the Rhino.

“I feel like we’ve been a real asset,” Yost said. “I feel like we’ve uncovered a lot of scandal, and a lot of politicians and leaders didn’t get away with things because of us.”

The Rhino freely mixed news writing with editorial comment and came at every story from a conservative point of view — something Hammer said they never denied.

But the paper also crusaded for more transparency in local government, Hammer said, reporting on politicians meeting in secret and publishing an annual list of every county and city employee.

The Rhino’s combative nature and conservative message made it popular with area Republicans, a number of whom it championed for local office.

“The Rhino was very important for conservatives and how we got our message out,” said Linda Shaw, the chairwoman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.

“I hate to see them go,” Commissioner Jeff Phillips said in agreement.

“I’ll miss the constant presence of their conservative message and Scott Yost at all our meetings,” Phillips said. “It’s hard to imagine Guilford County politics without the Rhino.”

Not everyone was sorry to hear about the paper’s demise.

“I think it’s good news for the city,” Greensboro Mayor Robbie Perkins said. “It’s sad to see any business fail, but I’ll be glad to see the negativism they inject into the city every week go away.”

City Councilwoman Nancy Vaughan said the Rhino has had a significant impact on politics throughout Guilford County over the years, devoting more ink to local politics than any other local publication.

“Of course, a lot of it was opinion-based,” Vaughan said. “They wrote something about me once that took me six weeks to recover from. Twelve years later, I’m still smarting.”

City Councilman Tony Wilkins said when he heard the paper was closing, he contacted the chairman of the Guilford County Republican Party.

“I told him we need to do something as a party now,” Wilkins said. “We’re going to need a vessel now to get our version of things out there.”

Could a job with the local GOP be in Hammer’s future? Or even a run for office?

“I am available for hire to almost anyone within reason,” Hammer said. “I can’t really afford to run for anything right now.”

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023, and follow @joekillian on Twitter.

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GREENSBORO — The Rhinoceros Times announced Tuesday that it would no longer publish a newspaper, citing financial problems.

In an article posted on its website, publisher John Hammer said the most recent edition of The Rhinoceros Times would be the last, saying the weekly is “hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.”

The Rhinoceros Times, which has published for 21 years, has run out of money, Hammer said.

Scott Yost, the paper’s county editor and columnist, said he found out the paper was closing Tuesday morning, shortly before it was posted online.

“I’m as surprised as anyone,” Yost said. “They said yesterday we were going to have a meeting, which is rare for us. So I knew something was happening.”

Yost said the Rhino had laid off some people in the last few months, but he didn’t know the severity of the problem until the staff was told that the issue now on stands was the publication’s last.

“I’m sure everyone here is going to land on their feet,” Yost said. “But I feel sorry for the community. I feel like the Rhino being here has been a real asset. I feel like we’ve uncovered a lot of scandal and a lot of politicians and leaders didn’t get away with things because of us.”

In his post, Hammer thanked his employees who have served the paper, the advertisers and those who have stuck with them for years.

Known as a conservative alternative weekly, the paper included a weekly column from nationally known science-fiction writer Orson Scott Card, who lives in Greensboro.

However, Hammer said the devotion that he and his employees had for the paper were not enough to overcome the recession of 2008.

“Newspapers got hit with the double whammy of the recession and increasing competition from the Internet,” Hammer wrote, “and we join a long list of newspapers that have closed their doors.”

Hammer also asked people to consider making a donation to cover the newspaper’s bills. “This would be a donation,” he said. “It is not tax deductible and you won’t receive anything of value for it. But right now we are deep in a financial hole and every bit helps.”

He said The Rhino Times would continue to be on the web “for as long as possible.”

Yost, who worked for the Rhino for more than 10 years, said he enjoyed the experience isn’t yet sure whether he’ll continue writing for the publication online.

“I just found out today I don’t have a job,” Yost said. “I know little about the future right now.”